Digital Camera Review

Digital Camera Review

The Kodak EasyShare C433 is a camera with a clearly defined market. With a current selling price of $99.95 through Kodak, and even less from other sellers online, this camera is a tempting option for true budget consumers. The EasyShare C433 has 4 effective megapixels on a 1/2.5-inch CCD, a 3x optical zoom lens, 1.8-inch LCD screen, 16 MB of internal memory, and offers manual control over exposure, ISO and white balance presets. The camera carries a full auto mode, a handful of scene modes, a macro mode, and video capture with audio. This straightforward digital camera won't work miracles, but it does offer users all the basics for under $100.
Advertisement


Model Design / Appearance (6.5)
This camera isn’t going to win any design awards and it certainly falls short of Kodak’s more stylish – and expensive - offerings that were revealed earlier this year. The Kodak EasyShare C433 is a functional no-frills point-and-shoot camera and this is immediately reflected in the physical design. The camera body is a thick, blocky and unfettered piece of molded plastic. Large, minimal, and simple controls are well labeled and are hard to overlook during shooting. The lack of planes, surfaces and other accoutrements found on models by other manufacturers make this camera a novice user’s best friend. If outcome is more important than looks and you’re purchasing on a budget, the Kodak C433 is definitely a good option for you. If style and personal image is more important than image quality, may we suggest a Minox DC1011, a modest little camera encrusted with both gold and diamonds.

Size / Portability (6.0)
This camera fits in a jacket pocket without too much imposition but don’t expect to cram this into a pants pocket: It is impossible, trust me. The boxy design and thick body will make it impossible to forget this camera when carrying it in hand. The camera measures 3.6 inches in width, 2.7 inches in height, and 1.4 inches in depth. For longer trips and carrying lengths, the wrist-strap eyelet or an optional carrying case for stowing would be advisable with this camera. A surprising specification is the actual weight of the camera. Although rather large, the camera itself weighs a rather lightweight 4.6 ounces without two AA batteries or a memory card which add a marginal amount of additional heft.

Handling Ability (7.5)
The thickness of the camera body and its overall size make it friendly for users with larger hands or conditions like arthritis which could make grasping smaller and slicker point-and-shoot cameras nearly impossible. A vertical grip on the front of the camera helped when shooting with one hand and eight raised dots on the back of the camera provide a nominal amount of additional grip for the thumb of the right hand.


Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size (7.25) 
The controls on the Kodak EasyShare C344 are better - in terms of size, labeling and simplicity of interface - than many point-and-shoot cameras on the market. This is always a design area where Kodak excels and the C344 is no exception, with the camera's stripped down simplicity offering a great introduction for novice users. The only problem with the controls came in their actual employment when the four-way control tended to be sticky and cumbersome, and the clacking of the mode dial and motion seemed more appropriate for a children’s toy than a digital camera. Because of the sticky four-way control, quick movement through the menu structure was largely impossible without concentration on the part of the photographer. This aside, the utter minimum of controls, their large size, accurate placement and proper labeling make the external interface of the C433 a great option for tentative or novice photographers as well as those with physical impediments or larger hands.

Menu (7.0)
The menu system found with the Kodak EasyShare C433 is quite user friendly. The menus feature a light blue background with a dark blue header while selected sub-menu parameters are displayed with a golden bar. Accessing any of the following menu structures can be accomplished by pressing the well-labeled Menu button on the back of the camera body. The menu system is navigated by pressing the up and down arrows on the four-way control. The only overall problem with the menus isn’t actually the menus, but it’s the cheap four-way control that slowed down navigation speed with its clunky interface and clacking on/off.

It would have been nice for Kodak to outfit this lower-priced model with a live view when making adjustments to manual settings in shooting mode. As it is, users will need to guess as to which white balance, exposure compensation level, ISO speed and long time exposure setting should be used when photographing. If an incorrect setting is selected, it will necessitate the user re-entering and re-adjusting each parameter in a process that while simple, isn’t all that quick.

Shooting Menu
 
Self Timer
single shot, 2 seconds shutter delay, 10 second delay, 2 shot 10 second delay
Exposure Compensation
+/- 2 EV with 1/2 EV step increments
Picture Size
4 MP, 3.5 MP (3:2), 3.1 MP, 2.1 MP, 1.1 MP
White Balance
auto, daylight, tungsten, fluorescent
ISO Speed
auto, ISO 80, ISO 100, ISO 200, ISO 400, ISO 800 (1.1 MP resolution)
Focus Zone
center-weighted, multi-zone
Color Mode
color, black and white, sepia
Long Time Exposure
none, 0.5 seconds, 0.7 seconds, 1.0 seconds, 1.5 seconds, 2.0 seconds, 3.0 seconds, 4.0 seconds
Set Album
accesses pre-loaded album titles
Image Storage
auto, internal memory
Setup Menu
opens setup menu structure

The setup menu can be accessed by the user whether they are in shooting, scene, movie, or review modes with each mode bringing up the same menu structure. Each mode lists the setup menu as the last selectable option and with a bit of time, photographers may find that it is easier to merely press the up arrow when the initial menu is opened. This skips the unnecessary navigation of one menu just to enter the setup menu. 

Setup Menu
 
Return
return to shooting, scene, video and playback menus
Camera Sounds
all on, shutter only, all off
Auto Power Off
10 minutes, 5 minutes, 3 minutes, 1 minute
Date & Time
YYYY/MM/DD HH-MM
Date Stamp
Off, YYYY MM DD, MM DD YYYY, DD MM YYYY
Video Date Display
None, YYYY MM DD, MM/DD/YYYY, DD MM YYYY, YYYY MM DD HH-MM, MM DD YYYY HH-MM, DD MM YYYY HH-MM,
Language
twenty language options
Format
memory card, cancel, internal memory
About
Firmware version

When users enter the playback menu, they will find that the last captured image will be displayed with the menu structure overlaid on top. It is possible to move between this display and multi-up by selecting the multi-up sub-menu option located within the playback menu. 

Playback Menu
 
Album
opens pre-named albums (naming must occur on computer and then be transferred to camera)
Crop
rectangular display, proportions and position determined through zoom and four-way control
Slide Show
begin show, exit, interval (adjustable in seconds, loop off/on)
Multi-up
nine frame multi-up thumbnail view
Copy
picture, exit, all
Protect
on, off
Image Storage
auto, internal memory
Picture/Video Information
general picture info (no histogram)
Setup Menu
opens setup menu structure

Ease of Use (8.0)
The Kodak EasyShare C433 is definitely a camera that excels in the ease of use category. This is primarily due to Kodak’s decision to strip external controls down to the necessary basics. In addition to the reduction to essential basics, the external controls are generally large in size and labeled with either full text or simple icons. The construction of the menu structures in both shooting and playback modes are full text and easy to understand and can be navigated through the use of the large and well-positioned four-way controller.
 
The menus could be improved with the addition of live views with the manual settings. That way, users could immediately understand what was occurring when adjustments were made to parameters like exposure compensation. In this incarnation, the C433 will only display the light blue on dark blue opaque menu background when adjusting exposure, white balance and ISO. Other than this setback, it’s hard to find another camera that is able to produce comparable results at this price.
 
Advertisement